Integrated Business Intelligence Report

Let us not forget that the foundation of successful BI is the accuracy and timeliness of the underlying data. Data quality is not optional and is difficult to address retrospectively - it is an imperative precursor to the appropriate use of front-end BI tools. Whilst this Report focuses on Vendors that provide such tools and solutions, our opinion is that they should not and cannot view data quality as someone else's problem. This is akin to the milkman delivering sour milk, only to turn round and try to blame the cow! Data quality has an important cultural component, and given that data quality is cheaper and easier to address the nearer the source it can be trapped, employees must learn to understand the importance of getting it right first time.

Once deployed, the technology needs to support and encourage collaboration and information exchange, in order that experience can be exploited and the volume of re-work is kept to a minimum. The organisation should look to exploit the capabilities of fundamental BI components - query, reporting, and analysis - in a bid to reach an all-encompassing view of business performance.

Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) is a key component of IBI. It recognises that whilst enterprise applications can help organisations become more efficient, particularly with their inherent processing and workflow capabilities, they offer little with regards to increasing enterprise efficiency. The days of analysing data and information from these operational silos are clearly numbered - different departments and business functions need access to data that may have been generated or manipulated on the other side of the world. Thus the remit for intelligence tools and technologies must also grow.

Along with the prospect of EPM, the concept of closed loop intelligence is also crucial. Much has already been made of the idea that operational systems can be exploited by using them to feed BI applications, who in turn provide an output which can be fed back to the operational layer. This allows business rules to be modified over time and integrates operational processes with decision support processes. In our view, this remains some way off, and requires closer integration between Enterprise Application Integration, Business Process Management, data Extraction, Transformation, and Loading, and Business Intelligence technologies. However, the concepts are extremely useful in helping the business drive forward with a clear goal in mind.

Technical Issues

IBI is clearly not an off-the-shelf proposition, nor should it be. There is no easy way or shortcut to the end goal, due to scale, depth, and impact of the solutions. There is a tendency for large technical solutions to be berated because of their size, complexity, and costs. Whilst IBI is significant, in terms of the impact it will have on business, it should certainly not be seen as a technical entity in the same way as ERP or CRM applications. IBI actively exploits the investment organisations have made in all areas of their business, from applications, databases, data warehouses, to the network infrastructure, and Web/Internet technologies.